Not long before the Short Story Series gets underway

Not every tale needs to be epic. Some of the best works of fiction have come from short stories rather than full-length works, and the tighter, more focused narrative works to their advantage. Indie developer Viperante is hoping the same is true of its aptly-named Short Story Series, which is set to debut later this month.

In the first of five standalone installments, surprise: you're dead. The Death of Erin Myers is a "dark and gritty mystery" in which players control the eponymous police detective as she grapples with the circumstances of how and why she died. By "playing through certain key moments from Erin's life, players will learn who she was, the things she did, both good and bad, and finally, how all of that lead to her death." By reliving key events through her eyes, you can "uncover her fears, her desires, and her darkest secrets. In the end, you can't save her. But maybe, just maybe, you can understand her."

Each game in the series will feature the same kind of pre-rendered first-person, point-and-click presentation as the developer's previous release, Corrosion: Cold Winter Waiting. The goal here is to provide about two hours of play time per title, including "all of the normal adventure game elements: exploration, talking to other characters, picking up and using items, and good old fashioned puzzle solving." But while their design and gameplay elements may share much in common and each will contain "dark and macabre subject matter," expect plenty of thematic difference between them, ranging from "mystery to horror to science fiction."

The Death of Erin Myers is just around the corner, kicking off the Short Story Series sometime later this month on Windows PC, though no firm date has been set just yet.